more information about congress

More Information About Congress

• The purpose of this slideshow is to teach you some additional information about the US Congress.

• In particular, you will learn how a bill is passed into law AND you will explore the issue of gerrymandering.

• Use this slideshow to complete the assignment I will give you in class.

How A Bill Becomes A Law

What is a Legislature?

• What do legislatures do?– Legislatures pass laws. That is their main function.

They propose, consider, debate, and vote on bills.• Bill: a proposed law before it is approved; draft

legislation


• How a FEDERAL bill becomes a law – Step 1: A bill is introduced by a member of

Congress. Almost all bills can begin in either house.*

– Step 2: The Clerk or Presiding Officer accepts the bill and gives it a number. (H.R. for the House and S. for the Senate, so a bill might be H.R. 1 or S. 1)

– Step 3: The bill is assigned to a committee.

*Appropriations bills (bills about money) must begin in the US House of Representatives


– Step 4: The bill is debated in the committee.– Step 5: If the bill is approved by the committee, it

is sent to the floor of that house.– Step 6: The bill is debated “on the floor” and then

is voted upon by all the members of the house.– Step 7: If the bill passes in the originating house,

it is sent to the other house.


– Step 8: The process repeats in the second house (committee debate, committee vote, floor debate, floor vote).

– Step 9: If the second house passes the bill, it is sent to the President for signature.

– Step 10: The President may sign the bill or veto the bill.


• In truth, the process is much more complicated. – Revisions are made: the language is edited, the bill is

amended, riders are added….and this tends to happen in both houses.

– By the time a bill reaches the executive for signature, it often bears little resemblance to the original.

– Each change must be approved by both houses….so you can see how one bill might end up going back and forth between committees and houses many times.


• Some terms associated with bill-passing.– Amendment: a change in a bill. – Rider: a non-germane amendment - an amendment to

a bill that has little to do with the substance of the bill.– Pork Barrel: when a bill is loaded with riders that

contain “pet projects” added by legislators. If the bill passes, all the riders pass with it.

– Mark-up: when a bill is in committee and committee members “mark it up” by altering it and adding amendments to it.

What is a Legislature?– Committee: Panels in each house that review bills

and study specific issues. • Standing Committees are permanent. All members of

Congress must belong to a standing committee. These have a “specialty” and all related bills go there first.• Special or Select Committees are temporary. They form

to study a particular issue or problem.• Joint Committees contain an equal number of

representatives from each house. They conduct research and issue studies and reports.

What is a Legislature?– Conference Committee: a temporary committee made

up of members of both houses to resolve differences between versions of similar bills. The new compromise bill they write must be approved by both houses.

– “Pigeonhole” or “bottle up”: when a committee sets a bill aside. Since this stops its progress, this is a way to “kill” a bill.

– Motion to “table”: if approved by a majority vote, “tabling” ends debate and stops the progress of whatever it is that was tabled.


– Quorum: minimum number of representatives who must be present in order to conduct business.

– Filibuster: to prevent the progress of a bill by holding the floor with prolonged speaking. In the US Congress, this is only possible in the Senate (because the House has time limits on speaking).

– Cloture: a motion to limit debate, thereby ending a filibuster. In the US Senate, a vote of three-fifths (or 60 Senators) is needed to invoke cloture.


– Veto: when the President returns a bill to Congress, explaining why he will not sign it. Unless Congress can muster up the 2/3 votes in both houses to override the veto, a veto kills the bill.

– Pocket veto: The Constitution gives the President 10 days to consider a bill. If he does not sign the bill but does not actively veto it, it becomes law without his signature UNLESS Congress has adjourned, preventing the bill’s return. In this case, the bill is “pocket vetoed” and does not become law.

Gerrymandering

The US Congress

Representatives….shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers…The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. Article I, Section 2

The US Congress

• The US House of Representatives has 435 members. (This number was “frozen” in 1929.)– Every 10 years, a census is taken. The results of

the census determine how many of the 435 House seats each state is entitled to.

– Once that number is determined, the state legislature divides the state into that number of legislative districts.

California has the most US Representatives (53), followed by Texas (36), and New York and Florida (27). Seven states have just 1.

North Carolina has 13 Congressional Districts. Each district elects one representative.

The US Congress

• Gerrymandering: drawing the boundaries of a voting district to make it more likely that a party or group will win the election.– Every ten years, each state legislature adjusts the

Congressional boundaries to reflect population shifts within the state.

– The political party that controls the state legislature at the time of “redistricting” has a big advantage because it controls the process and can draw the boundaries in deliberate ways.

The US Congress

• There are two main types of gerrymandering. – Political gerrymandering is the drawing of

electoral district lines in a manner that favors one political party at the expense of the other.

– Political gerrymandering is “legal” in that it is rarely overturned by the Courts.

– Also, it is legal to draw district lines to protect incumbents of both parties. (Incumbent = the current office-holder)

The US Congress

• There are two main types of gerrymandering. – Racial gerrymandering is the drawing of electoral

district lines so that racial minorities are under-represented.

– Tactics include "packing" targeted voters into a given district or "cracking" them to make targeted voters a minority across all districts.

The US Congress

– Technically, election districts are supposed to be “contiguous” and “compact.”

– After every redistricting, there are numerous court challenges. • Political gerrymandering is occasionally, but rarely,

overturned in the Courts.• Racial gerrymandering violates the 14th Amendment

and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The US Congress

– Gerrymandering is a practice that many people would like to see eliminated.• Reformers see gerrymandering as a form of political

corruption that undermines democracy.• A number of states have imposed rules to reform the

process of redistricting so that gerrymandering is more difficult.• The John Tanner Fairness and Independence in

Redistricting Act was introduced in the 113th Congress. It did not pass, but could become the basis for future reform.

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